President Bush recently signed into law a measure transferring control of a long-standing war memorial featuring a 29-foot cross from the city of San Diego to the federal government, as a national monument, with the goal of preserving it permanently.
In 1954, a cross was erected on Mount Soledad to honor veterans of the Korean War. The legal fight over the fate of the cross began in 1989, when an atheist veteran from the Vietnam War, Philip Paulson, claimed that cross excludes veterans who are not Christians.
Two years later, a federal judge in San Diego ruled that the presence of the cross on city property violated the California Constitution, and ordered it removed. U.S. District Court Judge Gordon Thompson, Jr., found the cross to be a religious symbol, whose presence infringed on the state Constitution’s ban on government showing a preference for religion.
Thompson and other judges subsequently rejected repeated efforts to overturn his decision in federal and state courts.
In May, Thompson ordered the cross be taken down by August 1, or be fined $5,000 a day.
However, on July 7, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued a stay of Thompson’s order, that was again appealed by the city of San Diego. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is scheduled to hear arguments in the case in mid-October.
In mid-July, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 349-to-74 to prevent the removal of the cross. Two weeks later, the Senate agreed by unanimous consent to the House measure.
California Republican Representative Darrell Issa, co-sponsored H.R. 5683.
“Our founding fathers didn’t want the establishment of a religion, but they didn’t want a Godless society. They wanted the freedom for the people to observe their God as they see fit,” Issa said.
The president did not make public remarks upon signing the legislation, but the White House issued a policy statement on the same day it cleared the House.
“In the face of legal action threatening the continued existence of the current Memorial, the people of San Diego have clearly expressed their desire to keep the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in its present form. Judicial activism should not stand in the way of the people. This bill would preserve the Mount Soledad Memorial by vesting title to the Memorial in the federal government, and providing that it be administered by the Secretary of Defense,” the White House stated.
Lawyers representing Paulson unsuccessfully sought to block the signing ceremony, but another federal judge, Barry Moskowitz, agreed to hear arguments addressing the constitutionality of the transfer once it is completed.
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, who has fought to keep the cross atop 800-foot high Mount Soledad, was pleased with the president’s action.
“It allows our federal government to take the lead in preserving the integrity of the memorial against all those that would alter this key part of San Diego’s history. I believe the president has substantially improved the chances that the desires of a vast majority of San Diego voters–all those that voted to preserve the integrity of the memorial–will finally be fulfilled.”
Sanders referred to Proposition-A, which was approved last fall by San Diego voters by a 76-percent margin. The measure would have allowed the cross to be donated to the federal government. However,another judge ruled that it still violated the state constitution.
The Thomas More Law Center has been leading the fight to save the cross since 2004. Center President and Chief Counsel, Richard Thompson, said, “I applaud the President’s decision to sign this historic bill in honor of our nation’s veterans. The President’s intervention may be the only way to prevent removal of the cross. We owe it to our veterans and fallen heroes to do every- thing we can to preserve this national memorial erected in their honor. Of course, even after federal intervention, the court battle will most likely continue.”
Jay Sekulow is chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, which has represented members of Congress who wanted to preserve the cross.
“This is an important milestone in the ongoing fight to save one of the most recognizable and important symbols honoring the men and women who gave their lives to protect our freedoms. A cross that has been in place for more than half a century has now captured the attention of the nation,” Sekulow said.
Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, voiced his support for the cross.
“It is important to remember that the Constitution promises freedom ‘of’ religion, not freedom ‘from’ religion. The Mount Soledad Cross has stood as a powerful symbol of America’s support for our sons and daughters who have served the Armed Forces. We pray this is the dawn of a new day in which public expression of faith will no longer be crushed or trampled in the public square,” Mahoney said.
However, Americans United for Separation of Church and State deplored the House for taking the lead in intervening in the cross case.
“The House has no business intervening in this way in an ongoing legal proceeding. But this is an election year, and the House leadership is proving itself all to eager to pass bills trashing the Constitution. The House’s action is an unwarranted, heavy-handed maneuver intended to please the Religious Right during the election season.
Supporters of the Mount Soledad cross argue that it is a memorial to military personnel killed in the Korean War; and, therefore, it should remain on public property. But opponents note that a Christian symbol cannot honor all service personnel. Americans of many different faiths -- and none -- fought in our wars. It is wrong to use the symbol of only one faith to memorialize those who died in service to their country,” Lynn said.
American Atheists President, Ellen Johnson, said, this case is all about “blatant government endorsement of religion.”
“Supporters and the city of San Diego have disingenuously claimed that the Mount Soledad cross has nothing to do with religion, and is instead a ‘war memorial.’ For decades, this structure has been known as the ‘Mount Soledad Easter Cross,’ and it has been the focus of Easter sunrise services and other religious events.
If we want to have an appropriate memorial that salutes those who have served their country and paid the ultimate price, it should be a secular monument that honors all veterans and the ideals they fought to defend,” Johnson said.
Likewise, Fred Edwords, a spokesman for the American Humanist Association, called the case “an attempted end run on the U.S. Constitution.” “That the federal government would intervene in a purely local church-state dispute is an example of election-year politics at its worst. Other such local cases have been settled without so much fanfare,” Edwords said.
However, Jonathan Saenz, a lawyer with the Liberty Legal Institute, says, a lot is riding on the eventual outcome of the Mount Soledad case.
“That’s our fear, that Arlington National Cemetery is next, and all the other national war memorials are going to be a target of atheists and the ACLU.
If we’re not allowed to properly commemorate, or show our appreciation for, the memories of our soldiers just because a memorial has some type of religious symbol, that’s an obvious example of religious discrimination and intolerance,” Saenz said.
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance." Psalm 33:12
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